April 26, 2013

• Big news since my last post … I’m an Aunt! My little sister Sophia had a baby boy this past weekend.

  Summary: Baby boy born via emergency C-section after 36 hours of labor; both mom and baby are fine/healthy.

  Stats: Name = Dylan, Length = 19″, weight = 6lbs 15oz, date = 4/20 (exact due date)

  I woke up Friday morning and got a message that my sister’s contractions started around 11pm the night before, occurring around every half hour. I moved my meetings to the morning and left work at noon to drive to the Bay Area. My parents (they flew in from Maryland a few days ago) and other sister were already there.

   

  Baby’s nursery … so classic. I wish she designed my kids’ nurseries! My mom made Chinese food for us – delicious. (I’m never going to drop those last few pounds! )

    

  We (Sophie/Eddie/I) went into the hospital at ~10pm Friday night. The nurse did a triage and she was only 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. They said her contractions were irregular, but I didn’t really agree with that. Anyway, they gave Sophia some pain medication and sent us home. We all tried to get some sleep, but between 2-3am Sophie decided she couldn’t take the pain, and we shuffled back to the hospital. This time her contractions were much stronger (based on her reaction), lasting 1.5 minutes, and 2-3 minutes apart (vs 5 minutes when we first tried to check-in) The triage nurse said she was only 2cm and 75% effaced … but given that it was a first baby, she should go home. I can’t remember how we convinced them, but I think Sophia was looking so miserable that they let her stay. She got an epidural, and the nurse assured us that it would be many, many more hours. They recommended that Eddie and I go back home and try to get some sleep. Eddie went back to the hospital at 7am and texted me that it would still be awhile – 5-6cm, 80% effaced. He said he would text me when it was close to ready to push. I lolly-gagged at the house, but was bored .. so I decided to head to the hospital around 10am. Just as I walked in, I saw a lot of doctors/nurses swarming and my sister being pushed out in the hospital bed. I called my other sister Alice, who picked up my parents and joined me in the waiting room. At the time, I had no idea what happened – I’ve since learned from my sister that the baby’s heart rate started dropping with each contraction … and at one point, it didn’t recover. It was probably a compressed cord, but even after shifting Sophia around, they couldn’t get the heart rate back up. It went back to normal for awhile, but when the next contraction it dropped again, they made a call to do a C-section. Baby was pulled out and given an APGAR score of 4, based on his complexion, pulse rate, reflex, muscle tone, and breathing,. (3 or less is critical, 4-6 is low, 7-10 is normal). Eddie said that he didn’t start crying right away. By the time the rest of us saw him, he was doing very well (retake of the APGAR = 9!). Kicking, and we all swore he was making eye contact with us behind the nursery glass window. It wasn’t until a few more hours that we were able to see Sophia. She looked pretty miserable, as one would expect coming out of surgery. What a harrowing experience! But you really couldn’t ask for a better ending.

    

  Baby Dylan is really cute and alert. Very delicate features compared to my kids as babies – but he still reminds me of a baby Zachary. Dylan started nursing right away, and very well - I have never known a first time mom/newborn take to nursing as well as my sister and Dylan did. And since Sophie was a “potato” for the first day, Eddie stepped it up and became a diaper changing pro. He even gave my sister (accurate) advice on nursing and tracked nursing times/duration and diaper changes on his phone. I think that’s the best thing about delivery ending in surgery. I’ve seen dads get pushed out of parenting by over zealous, critical moms. Over time you see them lose confidence and withdraw from being an active, hands-on parent. Quite sad. Not that my sister is the neurotic type (not at ALL), but being bedridden was a forcing function for Eddie to do even more than the average dad.

   

    Congratulations Sophia and Eddie! Welcome to the world, Dylan!  

    

  Back at home, another capable dad took care of 2 kids over the weekend. Lots of playing in the backyard, board games, art, lunch playdate with Alex and Nicole, and I’m willing to bet money that they went geocaching as well. I love that in our family, either parent can leave on short notice (I think I just sent James an email while we were at work) … and the other can easily manage the household and kids.

     

  • 1:04 am
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